Sunset

We often avoid endings we are too afraid at what they represent.  However endings can be just as beautiful as the beginnings that are to come. 

Primary

Simple, basic, made up of the same things as every other thing… however totally unique at the same time.

This Pollock-Esque splatter painting was done specifically for postcrossing.  I wanted to do something different, and this is something that could never be duplicated exactly.

This is Postcrossing: US-1411258

Shimmering Reflection

Reflections shimmer in the water adding a touch of magic to all that it captures. These fleeting moments mirrored on the calm abyss distorted as the wind ripples across the surface. 

Underneath It All

Walking along the Blackwater River in Milton, FL you cross underneath the US90 Bridge.   This is the side that you don’t always see on bridges that cross water, we tend to keep to the top side of those.   However I love the perspective it offers, a glimpse of something different. 

Silent Whirl

Part of Wordless Wednesday.

Carpe Diem

The world is ours for the taking; we can not just sit by and let life pass us by!  We must keep looking bravely forward and walk un-wavering into the uncertain horizon.   We must not forget the problems and joys of the past; they are a part off us.  However there are new adventures to be had and we must take them all as they come.  

Flying High

Flying solo isn’t as easy as it looks, people watch you soar in amazement.  But when their eyes are turned, you come crashing down with a thud… the trick is to dust yourself off, and take back to the clouds. 

Figuring It Out

So, I came across where a stream meets the ocean. Though the sand looked solid through the water, I lifted my pants legs and stepped in to cross. No! the sand and water bogged me to my knees, so I had to backtrack and find another way around. Now I am at the other side a little sandier and wetter... And a bit cold. But I made it. Now to do this on a larger scale.

Find the Color

The world is filling with color, the leaves are turning and the shades of green are slowly being replaced with different hues.   I’m familiar with this cycle, it is one that continues on and on through our lives… and in us as well; we all grow through cycles, some more beautiful than others.

Thunderous Silence

Part of Wordless Wednesday!

WonderWorks

Sometimes your world is turned on its head, but not always does this mean a bad thing.   Every ending is a chance to begin anew, it is up to you to seize the opportunity and make the best of it.

WonderWorks in Panama City Beach is a perfect example of this, the outside is a building turned on its head… but the inside is a place of learning made fun for children everywhere. 

A Thing of Beauty

Things happen for a reason there are times when it looks like you can’t really see the reason… but then you are suddenly face to face with what you’re looking for.  

Trail Blazer

Falling into formation is the easiest thing to do, to do what all the others are doing.  It allows for no thought or creativity on your part, you see what others do and you imitate.   I refuse to live this way; I believe that it is important to follow your heart.  The adventures that you have will make it worth all the uncertainty and fear.   If you are unwilling to blaze a new trail, there will be no new trails for people to follow.  

Transformation

We tend to focus on the moment, how bad things always happen to us.  We never step back to look and see who we become when we are faced with seeming insurmountable obstacles.   We become a thing of beauty, something to be admired.

Ave Maria

Part of Wordless Wednesday.

The Venezellos

Sitting in the small seaside town of Apalachicola lays a boat, I am unsure of the history of this boat except its name, the Venezellos.  It reminded me of the SS Hurricane Camille, a shrimp boat that washed up in Gulfport, Mississippi during the infamous 1969 storm and lasted until after Katrina when it was removed.   Considering the amount of disrepair, I doubt that this boat will remain in the city for much longer, unless someone steps up to save it.

Change of Seasons

The air grows cooler and the wind changes directions, the leaves on the trees change color and fall from their posts.   Fall is definitely in the air and soon the world will become a bit darker and the chill will once again bite to the bone.  

In just a few weeks the darkness will become festive as we embrace the things that frighten us and we celebrate moving through the cold and dark to the warmth that comes with spring.  

Electric Blue

As the storms rage in your heart the thunder echoes in your voice the electric blue of the lightning reflects through your eyes. 

These images were captured with my Blackberry Curve… yes… with my phone.   I have not edited these images as I occasionally do.   I took them tonight as I walked west along Panama City Beach.  The storms raging in the distance towards Seaside and Destin were bathing my world in a beautiful occasional splash of Electric Blue.

©2011 J.G.W. Blakeney all rights reserved.

Click Here for More Watery Wednesday Posts.

Silence

Part of Wordless Wednesday!

Lady Louise

Ships and boats fascinate me perhaps only second to airplanes.  This particular beauty was docked in Apalachicola, FL.   I loved her name, the “Lady Louise,”   while I am sure she was named for a famous “Louise”   such as Lady Louise Windsor; however, Louise is a name often repeated among women in my family…  so I immediately associated it with them.

Remember

September 11, 2001 a day that will forever be remembered as a moment in time where it all changed.   Not just for the American people who were attacked during peacetime on their own soil, but for those affected by the repercussions that spread thereafter like ripples in a pond. From New York to London all the way to Kabul, Bagdad and Abbottabad, this chilly morning ten years ago was the moment that everything changed. 

  Today I remember the heroes that lost their lives, and all the men and women of all nations that continue to fight in the War on Terror.   I also thank all the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday to ensure the safety of all of us from firemen to police all the way to EMTs and TSA.   Thank you.  

My words will forever pale to express the sorrow and horror of that chilly morning ten years ago.  I wrote this poem in the aftermath of that fateful day, and ten years later I feel it still expresses my thoughts and feelings.   Bless America and her allies.

United

11-September-2001

We will never be the same, they have seen to that.

They have broken our hearts, but not our spirit.

For once again we stand a nation united.

United under God.

United under freedom.

United Under courage.

United under the great banner adorned with stars and stripes.

Forever we will stand one nation indivisible.

They may try, but they can not take that away!

 

(These photos are from the 9-11 memorial in Panama City, FL. All Images and Words ©2011 J.G.W. Blakeney)

A Rose

Love is a lot like a rose.   So beautiful and sweet, and so fragile that it needs to be kept safe by thorns.   Too often we allow our love to be displayed for the world, and soon we are left with just a fragment of the beauty that once was.  Perhaps we should keep our love bound to us and safe from the torment that the world can provide… safe just for our own enjoyment… that is the safe way.     No… Perhaps I am wrong, maybe the best thing to do is to make it able to stand the tests of time, only then will it forever be just as beautiful as it was the day it first sprouted.  

Beat Still

The wind off the water blows through the trees,

Beat still my heart for we know what is to come.

I sit in the warmth of the sun with the birds flying free,

Beat still my heart for we are waiting for none.

I watch the crabs scurry at the waters edge,

Beat still my heart for you may very well break.

The waves lap at the waters edge enticing,

Beat still my heart for you are not weak.

I see the water stretch as far as the eye can see,

Beat still my heart we will soon be free.

I listen to the sound of the wind in the moss,

Beat still my heart we will know not loss.

Beat still.

Beat still.

Different Prospective

I like to look at things from a different prospective; I see beauty where others potentially would not.  Take this photo for example; many people would take a photo of the pier from the top or side, me I kinda like this view.

Tropical Storm Lee

Although it is just a tropical storm, Lee is affecting the weather from here all the way back home to Mississippi.   The rain has been off and on all day today, leading to me spending a good portion of the day wet. Lee also provided a chance for me to see some massive waves come ashore at the Panama City Beach County Pier.  I must say, I am not as brave as the people standing close to the water, these waves can sweep one out to sea in a heartbeat!

Embrace

When can you hope to be one,

When you forget to be a pawn,

You never know what can come to be,

When you finally realize you are free,

It is then that you can find,

The truth that can be so kind,

In the touch of grace can be found,

The loss of despair that once bound,

Out of the darkness you must trudge,

Into the beauty that only you will embrace.

Standing Tall

As a social people we tend to have to learn that we often have to stand alone.   It is not an easy lesson to learn, the waves crash around us and it can be scary and sometimes we do slip into the turmoil. When this happens we must flight our way back onto our little island and stand as tall and majestic as we possibly can, and stare down at every wave that comes our way. 

The Silence

Part of the Wordless Wednesday!!!!

For the Birds

This Egret and many Gulls feed from the waters where the Gulf of Mexico meets Saint Andrews Bay in the waters between Shell Island and Saint Andrews State Park. 

My Salt Life

Rising from the dunes bordering the Gulf of Mexico lays a city, an impossible city competing with a larger city that shares part of its name.   Panama City Beach is the city that I speak of, a city for tourists one would say.  This is the city where I have settled a city bordering the emerald colored waters of the gulf that provides the salt water and scents the breeze with the ocean.  I am adapting well to the life of the USA’s third lesser mentioned coast. The Gulf has become an important part of my life I love to walk in the surf looking for beautiful shells, and I long to swim in the salty water looking at the creatures that call the Gulf of Mexico home…. My home… with my new salty life.

Little Eyes

 

The same is true in Florida as it was in Mississippi and is anywhere on Earth… You are never alone.  Lurking in the trees, brush, and the water are little eyes.  You are always being watched so always be aware of your surroundings.

This Gator was stalking me and other food items at the aptly named “Gator Lake” in Saint Andrews State Park just outside Panama City Beach.  I have seen these magnificent creatures in nature many times in the past; they never cease to demand respect and awe.

Basking

 

Pelicans rest after a long day of foraging for food in the wild areas of Florida.   They overlook Saint Andrews Bay from a pier silently basking in the evening sun.  Sometimes I feel like one of these pelicans, no matter what I may go at life alone… I am never really alone.   When it is time for me to bask in the sun and reflect, I will do so with those closest to me.  

Part of Watery Wednesday.

Silent Thunder

Part of the Wordless Wednesday!!!!

Sunsets

Sunsets, the end of the day and the beginning of darkness.  The time of Limbo where the light is fading and the sky is filled with colors not seen during the bright of day or the darkness of night.